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Background: chronic diseases affect in Italy about 39.1% of the total population and 85.3% of the over 75 years. A new experimental approach has been studied that, through the communities, activate collaborative processes to improve the health and well-being of population. The ASL Toscana Sudest for the three years 2017-2020 has acquired from the Selfmanagement Resource Center (SMRC, University of Stanford California) licenses for implementing self-management programs for chronically ill people. The training process is subject to quality control by SMRC with annual report. Objectives: the goal is to train participants in the solution of problems, to make decisions, to set objectives and define priorities, to undertake actions for clinical-emotional management and its social role. The self-management education processes carried out have been addressed primarily to the diabetes program. Results: 57 conductors were trained through the administration of 30 hours of frontal lessons to nurses and lay people. Subsequently, the conductors implemented 77 programs in which a total of 750 people participated. Of these, 90% took part in at least four of the six seminars provided for in the program. In addition, a specific program has been launched for a group of 13 Bengali citizens resident in Italy with particular attention to the risk of development of dysmetabolic diseases and the possible correlation with Ramadan. Conclusions: the engagement of the citizen in terms of Public Health manifests itself with a cumulative impact of small behavioral changes at the level of individuals, communities, and the population. Main message: the project aims to introduce the concept of ‘Collaborative Health’ offering concrete examples of experiences already present in the Tuscan context, formulating possible recommendations for stakeholders for the innovation of the system and stimulating greater sustainability, appropriateness and equity of services and health models in Italy. Key messages: · Collaborative health is a winning strategy for health promotion. · Chronic diseases are a main topic for health promotion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper the modal coupling of linear viscoelastic oscillators is discussed. In particular, it is demonstrated that in presence of space-homogeneous ideal hysteretic damping, namely, viscoelastic materials with loss factor constant as function of frequency, a set of coupled linear oscillators can be always decoupled by a real coordinate transformation. This result can be extended to the case of a not space-homogeneous ideal hysteretic damping if the modes of vibration of the system keep practically real. The proposed approach is applied to a linear Multi-Degree of Freedom system representing the Finite Element Model of an aeronautical structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The association between muscular myxomas and fibrous dysplasia is a rare condition known as Mazabraud's syndrome, as reported by Henschen (Verh Dtsch Ges Pathol 21:93-97, 1926) and Mazabraud A and Girard (Rev Rhum Mal Osteoartic 24(9-10):652-659, 1957). We report a case of a 32-year-old woman with multiple myxomas in her right thigh and monomelic fibrous dysplasia. A review of the international literature referring to 67 cases to date was carried out. The syndrome is characterised by the following features: females are twice as likely to be affected as males; the lower limbs are the most frequently affected, fibrous dysplasia is more common in the femur and the pelvis and myxomas in the quadriceps muscle; myxoma is multiple in more than 70% of cases. Although there has never been any continuity between tumours and bone lesions, a significant correlation between dysplastic bone and myxoma has been revealed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

STUDY DESIGN: Case report. OBJECTIVES: Report a surgical technique for dural reconstruction after vertebrectomy. SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA: None available. METHODS: Clinical case analysis: chordoma from T12 to L2 with infiltration of the dura. RESULTS: Forty-six months after vertebral resection and reconstruction, the patient is disease free. CONCLUSIONS: Wide en bloc resection is required for local control in chordoma. When the tumor permeates the dura, resection not including the dura is intralesional with high risk of local recurrence. Therefore, a proper wide resection consists in vertebrectomy removing the dura infiltrated by the tumor. The two-stage dural reconstruction had strongly limited the leakage of liquor during surgery, and the dural patch provided extra strength anteriorly, where the dural suture is more difficult. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]